3.449,9 Km, 21 stages, 3 rest days, 2 Individual timetrails , 1 Team timetrial, 8 sprinter freindly stages , 1 medium mountain stage, 4 medium moutains stages with summit finishes , 5 high moutain stages with summit finishes - The Giro is about to take over our life for 3 weeks. and 1st up is the TTT - This team time trial is raced partly on a mixed and technically demanding city circuit, partly on long, wide straight roads, Suitable for high speeds. The start is set in Titanic Belfast, where short, straight stretches alternate with a series of slow bends, up to Upper Newtownwards. From here, the route goes straight on for over 6 km before rounding the mark at the Parliament Buildings (after a short climb), where the split time is taken. The route then takes the same slightly downwards straight, up to the city center, where before a technical last few kilometers and a slight drag uphill to the finish.

As many may have noticed the TTT starts at the ship builders yard that the Titanic was built in , while it may be hard for such a short TTT to sink a GC hope I do expect 1 or 2 GC leaders to be taking in water, It is always important to start the GC fight on the right footing, valuable seconds will need to be made up if lost, while a successful Team showing can set up the team for the battles to follow.

So who will win and be the 1st team to wear the maglia rosa in the 97th edition of the race?

team looks absolutely beast. Movistar & BMC may give them a run for their money but if there was ever a team to win a TTT it is surely that team. Lancaster, Hepburn, TurboDurbo, Meyer, Tuft.. the list goes on and on..

the start order is determined by draw, that's what it says in the UCI rules at least:

Quote from: UCI Rule 2.6.024

The starting order of team time trial stages shall be the inverse order of the general team classification, to the exception of the leader’s team which starts last. Where no such classification exists, the starting order shall be determined by drawing lots.

Uneven playing field with the weather. Garmin's crash and Martin out. Paucity of on-screen info - just the one split shown. Over enthusiastic spectators crowding the riders - Purito having to wave them away at one point.

Half way through I thought the main event would be the rain and the poor timing of and , well that was until exploded and Dan Martin sat on the road, with at least a broken collarbone, and Nathan Haas trying to ride up the front 4 to make 5 so the team could stay in. Tragic way for the TTT to be remembered Dan's vacant stare off into the distance.

but this is cycling and we move on fast.

were the favourites but got lucky with the weather, not sure they would have won , rode above what I thought they would, strong as expected. were extremely strong and will be very happy, and solid will be very disappointed, while off last surprising strong. got the worst of the conditions with but will be ok with the result, happy with old man boots and the kid Aru still in the hunt]

Ah, the unlucky lottery of the TTT. Already Garmin's hope and big(gish) name out and the rest of his team, killed, wounded or missing in action. Stupid, show pony type event, that has no place in a 3 week GT.

Agreed, pointless exercise that doesn't add anything to the race. Would prefer a prologue if they want something the locals can enjoy. Also boring to watch on TV, but at least it's individual effort and if someone crashes then it's their own fault.

Really sad for Martin, could have done some nice things this Giro. And Hesjedal's GC is also ruined.

Katusha did a really poor ride, even if they did suffer the worst of the weather. But 38 seconds to Quintana, that's not something Purito can easily recover. Evans and Uran will be a lot happier, both their teams did very well.

Happy to see Orica win, and nice how they gifted it to birthday boy Tuft. We'll probably see it gifted to another of their riders tomorrow, to keep the team spirit up.